How many Focus ST owners on here

[Dav4]

Anyone ever had a loud grinding sound coming from there ST in the 8 months I've had mine I keep occasionally getting a very loud grinding sound coming from the front like the sound a table saw makes when cutting through objects best describes it.
It seems to be as I've fully released the clutch from standstill and move off in 1st then 2nd or when parking. It's an awful sound that makes passers by stop and look but my mechanic could not find anything last time it was there because it only happens occasionally

 

[.:SAmSuNG:.]

Nope.

 

[mikeo]

Picked up my new Focus ST3 on Thursday.

So far pretty impressed as to what you get for your money.

Even showing some restraint, it gets down the road well. Seems to handle fairly tidy as well. Rides decently enough on the optional 19 inch wheels (which was one of my worries). Took a while to get the best driving position. The front seats are great for a skinny sod like me, but some might find them a tight fit (so to speak). The turning circle (something I've seen criticized) appears OK to me and it's a tight turn coming one direction to swing into our front drive (appears no worse to me than the RS Clio).

Dislikes so far are minor. The box /center arm rest is just WAY to big and quite easy to knock your left elbow on when getting into the car (get used to it I suppose). Wish you could permanently disable the stop/start in a menu somewhere. Totally pointless for me living in a rural area. Infotainment screen is one of the mat ones and picks up fingerprint far to easily. And to be totally honest, I think the Satnav is absolute pants compared to some I've used. So if this is all I have to moan about... happy days.

Car on pickup was well presented. The sales-guy was a decent chap. But maybe having a drink at lunch time (I could smell it on his breath) is/was not very professional when you know you are going to do a handover.

Though I did notice when I got home and went over the paintwork with a fine tooth comb, that there were a couple of minor blemishes on the passenger side panels. Looked like dust or something got on the panel/s during spraying. I've seen it before on cars. Should not happen but occasionally does. I'll mention it ... but not overly concerned, as the car is only on a two year PCP.

Some pictures (scenic route home):

 

[Dav4]

ST looks great with the red on black alloys don't see many with that colour combo! Is it the deeezel or petrol?

 

[mikeo]

ST looks great with the red on black alloys don't see many with that colour combo! Is it the deeezel or petrol?

Yes it is strange that you don't see many with red body and the optional black 19 inch wheels. Don't know why, as red and black are really complementary colors. Even struggled to find a picture anywhere on the internet with this combo (at least with the Ford wheels from the black style pack). Glad I chose it in the end.

It's petrol.

 

[.:SAmSuNG:.]

You get used to the center arm rest. It took me a week or so before I noticed it can be moved forward or back.

I dont understand the problem with the stop start? Even if you live in a rural area what is a disadvantage of having it enabled?

 

[Stormster]

The red Focus looks great, I am warming to this shape now.

 

[mikeo]

You get used to the center arm rest. It took me a week or so before I noticed it can be moved forward or back.

I dont understand the problem with the stop start? Even if you live in a rural area what is a disadvantage of having it enabled?

Re arm rest. Already starting to instinctively raise my left arm slightly as I get in the car. So that didn't take long

No big beef with stop/start. It's just pretty pointless round here. Almost zero traffic, so the most I would be stopped at a junction (for example) would be for a quick look. But still time for the stop/start to kick in, only for me to almost immediately start up again. So almost zero fuel saved I suspect. I can see that it would maybe give a meaningful fuel saving in town driving (seen the 5th gear tests on this). But not in 99% of my driving. So hence pretty pointless. Just got to get into the habit of pressing the switch down by the gear lever I suppose. Would probably just leave it on the odd time I visit a town (so that's a couple of times a year then). Gods driving country round here. Just watch out for the mad farmers, who round here always expect there to be nothing coming and just pull straight out

Sounds like you have one.
Question... is there some way to mute the audio system? Can't find anyway other than either switching it off, or turning the sound right down. The manual seems to imply there is a mute function (might be model specific I suppose). But damned if I can find it. It will be the first car I've owned that has the audio controls on the steering whel, and doesn't have one. My previous car (RS Clio) you just pulled the volume up/down toggle switches together and it muted the sound.

 

[Spikey]

Wow that's a stunning combo mate. Really liking that. I'm
Considering a PCP deal (new to this sort of thing) and wondered what sort of deals you can get on these? What is the milage/deposit/monthly payment? Is it done through ford? Thanks

 

[.:SAmSuNG:.]

Re arm rest. Already starting to instinctively raise my left arm slightly as I get in the car. So that didn't take long

No big beef with stop/start. It's just pretty pointless round here. Almost zero traffic, so the most I would be stopped at a junction (for example) would be for a quick look. But still time for the stop/start to kick in, only for me to almost immediately start up again. So almost zero fuel saved I suspect. I can see that it would maybe give a meaningful fuel saving in town driving (seen the 5th gear tests on this). But not in 99% of my driving. So hence pretty pointless. Just got to get into the habit of pressing the switch down by the gear lever I suppose. Would probably just leave it on the odd time I visit a town (so that's a couple of times a year then). Gods driving country round here. Just watch out for the mad farmers, who round here always expect there to be nothing coming and just pull straight out

Sounds like you have one.
Question... is there some way to mute the audio system? Can't find anyway other than either switching it off, or turning the sound right down. The manual seems to imply there is a mute function (might be model specific I suppose). But damned if I can find it. It will be the first car I've owned that has the audio controls on the steering whel, and doesn't have one. My previous car (RS Clio) you just pulled the volume up/down toggle switches together and it muted the sound.

Actually no I have not found any way to quickly mute it. I found the included mats to be very poor quality and size so I have replaced them on mine.

 

[mikeo]

Wow that's a stunning combo mate. Really liking that. I'm
Considering a PCP deal (new to this sort of thing) and wondered what sort of deals you can get on these? What is the milage/deposit/monthly payment? Is it done through ford? Thanks

Mileage/deposit can be whatever you want. No specific deals on at the moment I think.

Go to Ford's UK web site. Configure the car you want and then click the finance tab. This will allow you to play around with deposit / term.
The PCP seems to be either 0.9% on a two year (what I went for) and 2.9% on a 3 year deal. There is a £600 deposit contribution from Ford if taking their finance.

In my case. I had a sizeable deposit. So the monthly repayments come in at just under £250 / month. For a fully loaded ST3. Plus every extra bar the sunroof and the driver aid package. Cancelled order, hence why I got it within 2 weeks. Factory orders seem to be taking around 12 weeks now (a hell of a lot faster than last year by all accounts). Though there are usually a few cancelled orders and cars that are going to dealers as demos, that can be re-directed (these will be in the compound in Holland).

Go via CARWOW (like I did) and aim for 10-15% off RRP if you have a PX. Or Drive-the-deal if no PX, where 15-20% off RRP should be achievable. Even going via CARWOW, it depends on how much the dealer wants your business, as my deal was improved over the CARWOW offer (which was already decent) once I started talking to the sales-guy / dealer.

Obviously the deals on these wont come in as cheap as on the Fiesta ST. As the Focus is a fair bit dearer car.

Cracking car for the money. Can't fault the car yet (only very minor points as already commented on).

Though if you do go for one. Consider seriously specifying the 19 inch rims. As they fill the arches that much better and in my opinion (especially the black wheels) look so much better. And if it's an ST2, you also get the red brake calipers (standard on ST3) and the illuminated scuff plates (again stock on an ST3).

PS. I went for 9,000 miles on my PCP.

PPS. And Ford also look to set their GFV (Guaranteed Future Value) reasonably sensibly. So at the end of the deal, you should have something to put towards your next PCP deal. Might well look at an RS then... who knows.

 

[Spikey]

Thanks mate. Did you get an offer via car wow and then go to your local dealer to haggle over the price? Or did you actually get your PCP deal via car wow?

 

[mikeo]

Thanks mate. Did you get an offer via car wow and then go to your local dealer to haggle over the price? Or did you actually get your PCP deal via car wow?

Not many local dealers round here mate. I live in the middle of nowhere there's Arnold Clark and that's it. And I would not buy from them if they were giving the car away. Hence why looking further afield via something like carwow was appealing. I actually bought the car via carwow and just talked to the dealer initially via the carwow PM system. Then via phone \ email. The carwow offer was initially 10.3% this got increased to just over 12% when I agreed to accept a car that was already built and sat in fords compound in Holland. And I got the best part of £1,200 more for my part exchange compared to what Glass's guide said it was worth (checked the prices myself... So I know that was the case) . so that was around 15% off rrp and I was happy with this. So with carwow there is still a certain amount of horse trading you can do yourself. With drive the deal, the price you are offered is it. No negotiating and no PX allowed. And for me, not having a car round here, even for a few days, is a no go.

The PCP was via ford. Highly unlikely to beat their finance deal to be honest.

Good luck.

PS if interested in this sort of method. I strongly recommend having a look at the carwow web site, all explained in detail and with a comprehensive FAQ.

PPS. Gap insurance on any sort of finance (including PCP) is a MUST in my opinion. Just don't buy it from ford (very expensive this way) but third party from someone like directgap. They will be half the price, or less.

 

[lee1101]

Go away you fool

 

[Spikey]

Not many local dealers round here mate. I live in the middle of nowhere there's Arnold Clark and that's it. And I would not buy from them if they were giving the car away. Hence why looking further afield via something like carwow was appealing. I actually bought the car via carwow and just talked to the dealer initially via the carwow PM system. Then via phone \ email. The carwow offer was initially 10.3% this got increased to just over 12% when I agreed to accept a car that was already built and sat in fords compound in Holland. And I got the best part of £1,200 more for my part exchange compared to what Glass's guide said it was worth (checked the prices myself... So I know that was the case) . so that was around 15% off rrp and I was happy with this. So with carwow there is still a certain amount of horse trading you can do yourself. With drive the deal, the price you are offered is it. No negotiating and no PX allowed. And for me, not having a car round here, even for a few days, is a no go.

The PCP was via ford. Highly unlikely to beat their finance deal to be honest.

Good luck.

PS if interested in this sort of method. I strongly recommend having a look at the carwow web site, all explained in detail and with a comprehensive FAQ.

PPS. Gap insurance on any sort of finance (including PCP) is a MUST in my opinion. Just don't buy it from ford (very expensive this way) but third party from someone like directgap. They will be half the price, or less.

Thanks mate you've been very helpful

 

[ubern00b]

So I'm finally at BD Performance today getting the work done for CP340 and it's been a little bittersweet. Just found out that I already have the block mod. Wasted around £450! Not crying over spilt milk but the previous owner didn't tell me and I couldn't find any paper work for it. Emailed the previous owner to ask if he knew and he said 'oh yea I had it done'. Brilliant. He told me the belts were all changed and I have the paperwork for that but not for the block mod and he didn't tell me or have it in the advert.

It is what it is.

 

[ubern00b]

Today they spent all day fault finding a misfire. Turns out the brand new, genuine Ford spark plugs I supplied (purchased from eBay) were to blame. So, I have to pay a full days labor as I supplied the plugs. I'll have 0 recourse with the eBay seller so again, it is what it is. Means they couldn't finish all the work I was booked in for too as they spent so long trying to find the fault.

Little bit gutted but hey ho, that's life!

 

[tl45]

Having also seen first hand the amount of work it takes to get the car stripped down enough to get access for the block mod I feel for you having got there only to find it had already been done

It's bad enough already that the actual mod takes about 45 seconds to do once the head is off.

Then the dodgy plugs is just rubbing it in, guess that with them only finding the misfire after stripping down and rebuilding the head onto the motor it's not obvious that the plugs were the issue as it could have been a fair call to spend time rechecking work done removing and refitting the cylinder head

If it helps CP340 is worth the wait and trouble you've gone through

Have you got a date for it being done?

 

[ubern00b]

Having also seen first hand the amount of work it takes to get the car stripped down enough to get access for the block mod I feel for you having got there only to find it had already been done

It's bad enough already that the actual mod takes about 45 seconds to do once the head is off.

Then the dodgy plugs is just rubbing it in, guess that with them only finding the misfire after stripping down and rebuilding the head onto the motor it's not obvious that the plugs were the issue as it could have been a fair call to spend time rechecking work done removing and refitting the cylinder head

If it helps CP340 is worth the wait and trouble you've gone through

Have you got a date for it being done?

The lads changed coil packs, injectors, re-checked all boost and vac pipes, you name it really. Spent loads of time on the phone to Gary @ CP trying to figure it out. When they finally discovered it was the plugs they were very surprised. They have only ever had 1 set of faulty plugs (when new out the box) and that was a bout 8 months ago. Similar time to when I bought mine actually. If there was a dodgy batch from Ford or something then I will see if I can get anywhere with a complaint or such but I won't hold my breath!

Car is done, I am going to pick it up in a couple of hours. Darren wants me to put some miles on it so I'll go for a spirited drive around the area and hopefully, I have such a huge smile on my face that everything else just fades into obscurity and I no longer care about the issues

 

[ubern00b]

Forgot to update as I was super busy the rest of the weekend.

CP340 is as awesome as I led to believe. So much fun, so much power! At the end of the day I no longer care that I already had the block mod or that I had to pay for a days fault finding work. It is just that good!

We couldn't get some of the work done that I wanted due to running out of time but seems that was for the best anyway. I lost my locking wheel nut key so they were going to get the wheels off for me and fit spacers however I have now found the key! It was in the car the whole time. In the puncture repair kit. Doh

I was also going to replace the coolant with Evans Waterless, so I will just add these things to my list for the next round of mods.

So, TL: DR: CP340 is awesome.